Las Cruces, New Mexico - Recycled Roadrunner

After wrapping up some business in El Paso, Texas I took the one-hour drive west to visit the World’s Largest Roadrunner, located just west of Las Cruces, New Mexico. The bird stands atop a hill overlooking Interstate 10 and can’t be missed in daylight hours. It's only possible to stop and visit by traveling East on I-10. because he is located in a rest stop with access only on the east side (voted “Best Rest Stop 1992”, by the way).

The roadrunner is made out of junk and is roughly between 12 and 15 feet tall at the top of his head (visibly smaller than the World’s Largest Huron, in case you were wondering). The belly of the bird was almost totally created with old white shoes. The top, neck, wings and tail were made with what must have been whatever must have been lying around. I spotted old children’s toys, office fans, computer parts, random sheet metal, a steering wheel, and a zillon other things in the body of the bird. Who created him and why is somewhat of a mystery, but it is the only roadside attraction between El Paso and Las Crusas, that is for sure!

One very interesting thing about the roadrunner is people have started to graffiti the shoes on the underbelly. Most have the standard “so and so loves what’s her name”, “blah blah was here” and so on. but it also appears that truckers who have stopped at the rest area have started to write as well.

By far the most interesting thing I saw written on the bird was “I drive this truck so my boy can attend a good college and become something better than his old man ever dreamed. Look after me and my rig as I pass below, amigo.” [Greg Brown, 03/26/2002]

West of Las Cruces is a giant roadrunner made out of trash! This sculpture was made out of metal and trash from the old city dump where it resided until the dump closed a few years ago. Someone made an effort to save it and the city decided on an excellent place to put it -- at a rest stop on a mesa west of town, overlooking the city.

The roadrunner was put there about a year ago, in 2000. It is about 20 feet tall and 50 feet long (estimated). [Brian Mcdermott, 04/01/2001]

This giant roadrunner provides a little competition for Paisano Pete. Don't know if she's bigger, but is definitely in a more dramatic location, high on the west mesa overlooking the Rio Grande valley and across to the Organ Mountains. It's made of recycled materials--old sneakers, etc. Great tourist photo ops! [Chris williams, 11/23/2000]

[RA: Bigger than Paisano Pete... Looks almost too good to be true!]

There is a rest area with a giant Roadrunner overlooking the freeway. [Ed Johnston, 09/23/2000]